Growing up near New Raymer, Greeley’s Lynelle Kugler had never really been exposed to the sport of rugby.

Except for an Australian exchange student who went to school with her at Prairie High School and talked about the

sport all the time, she knew nothing about rugby until

she came to college at the University of Northern Colorado, where her roommate was playing on the school’s club team.

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“I was like ‘that is pretty violent, why would anyone want to do that?’ ” Kugler said. “What would possess you?”

It wasn’t long before Kugler was possessed by the sport. At the insistence of her roommate, the former basketball, volleyball and track standout at Prairie tried out for the team and made it.

Now she is one of the best women’s rugby players in the nation.

The 22-year-old UNC senior is a member of USA Rugby’s Under 23 Women’s National Team. In March, Kugler was selected to the Women’s National Sevens team to compete in the Hong Kong International Sevens Tournament, a tournament with the best 7-on-7 rugby players in the world. She helped the team boast a 5-2 record to finish fifth overall.

This past weekend, Kugler guided the Bears into the Women’s Collegiate Division I Championships round of 16 at Penn State in College Station, Pa., where the 13th-ranked Bears dropped a 32-6 decision to the No. 4-ranked University of California at San Diego in the championship bracket and then lost to Stanford 43-0 in consolation to end what was an outstanding season. UNC lost only one match prior to the national tournament, an that was to No. 1 ranked Air Force in the West regional finals, which allowed the Bears to qualify for the Sweet 16 for the first time since 1999.

For Kugler, it shows how far she’s come in the sport since she took to the field for the first time as a sophomore. She didn’t even know the rules when she started playing and had to learn as she went.

Even so, she loved the game as soon as she started playing.

“It is a very team-oriented game,” Kugler said. “It is a challenge for athletes of all abilities. You need big girls, you need fast girls. You need everything.”

UNC coach Rhonda Corman said Kugler has the athletic ability it takes to be among the elite women in the sport. She’s strong, aggressive and can make plays.

More importantly, she works hard be the best rugby player she can be.

“Part of it is determination and training. She is an avid trainer. She is probably in the best physical condition. I would put her against almost anybody her age,” Corman said. “She would probably argue that, but she probably works out two to three hours a day. So she is incredibly strong, and she is incredibly fast.”

Kugler’s development as a player has coincided with the re-emergence of the UNC rugby club as a national power, after struggling through some difficult times since the team’s last appearance at nationals.

The problems led to Corman’s resignation for 1 1/2 years after she grew frustrated with the team’s commitment to the sport.

“We had some party problems, and actually, the last time we went to regionals prior to this time, we had some incidents that weren’t exactly becoming of a good, upstanding collegiate team,” Corman said. “We basically had some philosophical differences, so I left them.”

It was something the club’s president, MacKenzie Stephens, was determined to change. The UNC junior had been playing the sport since she was in high school and she wanted players committed to winning like she was.

“When I first came here they liked to party,” Stephens said. “They liked the social aspect of it. When I was a sophomore, I took over the presidency of the club and I wanted to change some things around. It did take two years for us to be this successful.”

Not only did the players dedicate themselves to being quality players, but they also brought in talented athletes to help improve the team.

One of those is freshman Sara Edwards, who is a member of the USA Rugby Under 19 National team. Edwards, who played rugby in high school for a club out of Littleton, came to UNC so she could continue to play the sport.

“I played soccer, and one of the hard things was that I was too aggressive for the sport,” Edwards said. “Now here, I can go out and hit as hard as I can.”

Players such as Edwards have helped breathe new life into the program, something Kugler is glad to see.

“The first year I came out we were struggling to field a side,” Kugler said. “We are still kind of short on people right now because of injuries, but just the level of play has improved a tremendous amount.”

So has the play of Kugler. It has made her one of the nation’s best players in a short amount of time.

INFO BOX

The UNC Women’s Rugby Club is looking for donations to help offset the cost of their trip to the Sweet 16. If you are interested in making a tax-deductible donation, you can do so by sending a check payable to the UNC Women’s Rugby Club and send it in care of coach Rhonda Corman at the UNC Economics Department, Campus Box 101, Greeley, CO 80639. A receipt will be mailed back to those who donate. Information: 351-1560.